Movie Review: Zombeavers (2014)

The movie stars Rachel Melvin, Cortney Palm, Lexi Atkins, Rex Linn, Brent Briscoe and Hutch Dano.

After spending yesterday, the hottest day of the summer (so far), running errands, my wife and I did as we normally try to do. We put the girls to bed, popped a bag of popcorn and settled down to watch a movie. After looking at a variety of other choices, I ended up picking this film, which has been on my "maybe" list for a while.

Based on the description of this film, I wasn't really sure what to expect. The horror/comedy genre is a tricky one and most films that attempt that combination aren't very good. This movie, however, exceeded expectations.

I'll start out by saying this film had everything I thought it was going to have, bad dialogue, excessive blood and gore and gratuitous nudity/sex. But, while there are many other films I could say that about, those things only served to add to the overall charm of this movie.

I think the thing I really liked about this film was the clever script. The zombie beavers looked like something out of a b-rated 80s film (it wasn't hard to tell they were puppets). But, the writers went out of their way to make their creatures extra-intelligent. The animals knew how to trap their intended prey, were able to attack at any moment from just about anywhere and were even smart enough to cut the phone lines. While, admittedly, a little far fetched, that intelligence stood in perfect contrast to the not-so-smart college students they had trapped.

Another thing I found I liked about this movie was the way it managed to throw in quite a few unexpected twists, especially toward the end. I don't want to reveal too much, but their already hopeless situation gets even more hopeless as well as a bit bizarre (and funny) in a way I honestly wasn't really expecting to happen even though I probably should have.

Also, unlike so many other movies I've seen recently, the writers knew how to end this film in a way that didn't leave me disappointed. In fact, the ending was actually very clever to the point I was laughing pretty hard. It was definitely a great way to end what turned out to be a pretty decent experience.

Based on the title, I really wasn't expecting this movie to be any good. However, it proved to be one of the better horror/comedies I've seen and, while it might not be a movie everyone will enjoy, it's worth taking the time to watch it for yourself.

My Grade: A